The coat in Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw serves as a plot device. It gives Captain Bluntschli an excuse to revisit Raina to return the coat without explicitly stating that he has a romantic interest in her.
The plot device of Raina putting a picture of herself in the pocket of the coat serves as a way for Shaw to make fun of the way romantic tokens are handled in melodrama. While in a melodrama or sensation novel, such a love token would have been pivotal in both plot development and relationship development, as the romantic Raina hopes, the pragmatic Captain Bluntschli doesn't even notice its presence.
The photograph does, however, serve to make Raina's father aware of the relationship, because he has found the photograph and is curious about why it is inscribed:
Raina, to her Chocolate Cream Soldier: a Souvenir.
Thus familial pressure and discovery prompt Captain Bluntschli to admit that he loves Raina and move the plot towards its resolution of a happy marriage between him and Raina.
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